and writing the final chapters. nbc news has learned robert mueller could be close to completing his russia probe, that as new questions are raised about the two men who could decide what happens to mueller's report when it's all finish. we're going to start with the partial shutdown, the 16th hour we've been noting it. chuck schumer saying talks are ongoing. a short time ago he took to the senate floor and it did not sound like any deal was near here. >> we arrived where we are because president trump has been on a two-week temper tantrum, demanding the american people pay for a $5 billion that he promised mexico would pay for.

it will not pass today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. mr. president, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. >> despite schumer's words, the president tweeted he's working hard on nettigotiating. now about 420,000 have been affected and are working without pay and another 300,000 have been furloughed and are on unpaid leave. mike, we understand the vice president is on the hill, not too far away from where you're at. >> that's right. he's in the capitol now. a lot of moving parts to tell

you about now. mike pence arrived with the acting chief of staff for president trump, mick mulvaney, in the capitol just about 15 minutes ago. they proceeded directly to the suite of offices on the second floor where chuck schumer is ensconced and they're going to have a read-out from the lunch that you just reported with president trump and some of the staunchest conservatives, many of whom insisted he hold his ground on the $5 billion wall. the clock is ticking at 16 hours and appears it will be ticking for more. senator shelby returning to and saying nothing is imminent and that it could be a few days before anything gives. meanwhile, you saw chuck schumer on the floor of the senate opening up the senate.

mitch mcconnell insisting it was up to schumer, nancy pelosi to negotiate something with the president. and i'll show you the halls way behind me here are utterly deserted. mitch mcconnell said they would not be called back unless there was something to vote on. so very few members of congress, very little activity, sort of in a holding pattern now to see what the white house, democrats -- >> stand by. you mentioned mitch mcconnell. he's back on the floor right now. let's listen in. >> 32 if the nomination is considered and laid upon the table with no intervening action to date that no further motions be in order and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. >> without objection. >> i ask unanimous consent the commerce committee be discharged

for further consideration, consideration of pn 2507, 2626, 2638, 2679, 2671, the nominations be confirmed. >> the senate majority leader back on the floor at 3:04 p.m. eastern time there in the capitol. it appears he's going through business of the senate. we were looking for details that might give us an indication of potential discussions or progress in the shutdown and ending it. mike, i'm sorry was interrupting you there but we wanted to listen in to see what he might be saying. my -- am i misunderstanding what the majority leader is saying? >> no, the clock is always taking on one piece of legislation or another here in

the senate. he said he would not be calling senators back, there would be no pending business, no votes, until there was actually an agreement, something to talk about and debate and perhaps vote on if there were an agreement between the president and chief negotiators here in congress to send this shutdown. so far no settlement in sight. >> let's go to kristen. we have her here in new york city today. but she was up late last night repo reporting on what the president is doing. >> reporter: he said the crisis of illegal activity at our southern border is real and will not stop until we build a great steel barrier or wall. let work begin. i think that's significant, steel barrier or wall. he softened his stance on his big campaign rallying cry. we never heard about a steel

barrier during the campaign. i think he's realizing he's going to need to soften some of his stances. this deadlock has happened because he's asking for $5 billion. democrats have said absolutely not, we're not giving him $5 billion. will he come off of that number? you pointed out the fact that he was meeting with republicans at the white house. that's an important point. he's not meeting with democrats. we do know he has stuck with chuck schumer. abo before he could come off of that $5 billion, before he could start to negotiate, he'd have to get the green light, the conservatives of the party. it's instructive they were there talking to the president, jared kushner, mick mulvaney, and the white house affairs director. the president is supposed to be

in mar-a-lago. that's where his family is. that's another pressure point to all of this. >> what is the mood this hour, hour 15 plus some minutes. that's so important when we talking about president trump. >> it's so important. we are hearing that the white house as a whole has been resigned to the fact that the shutdown was going to happen. the president, though, has felt boxed in. i think he's trying to figure out a way out of this to save face with his base, which is all important to him right now, particularly as he heads into 2020. and then to also to try to make sure the government isn't shut down for christmas. this is a president who knows optics and he knows there will be a political price to pay if this government is still shut down on christmas day. >> mick mulvaney, jared kushner heading there to make some movement. are they the right voices? >> and why them? >> first of all, mick mulvaney,

a big test for him. did he have great relations on capitol hill? not necessarily. he was seen as a conservative fire brand. however, he knows how things work. he knows how to get things done if he needs to. and jared kushner has helped with some of these trade deals that the president has done. will it be effective? that's the big question. they've been at this for quite some time now, including yesterday, when we thought for a period of time there might be a deal coming to the here. didn't happen. >> kristin welker, mike is also here with us. we'll be talking to you in probably the next 30 to 60 minutes. let's bring in charlie sava sav josh ledderman and kimberly watkins.

kimberly, we are in similar places as when we started that clock. when are you making of developments that are happening this evening, meetings that are happening, discussions that they're having and vice president pence being back on the hill? >> it seems the republicans and democrats are pretty fully dug in. it's really hard to see how the democrats are going to come anywhere close to the $5 billion that the president is asking for for border security/the wall slash steel slats. i don't see them moving much beyond that $1.6 billion they offered. at the same time you have the conservatives among the republicans who are digging in and warning the president not to try to negotiate with the democrats, not to back down off that $5 billion number because he promised a border wall to his supporters and he needs to deliver on it. it doesn't seem like there's

that much other than the president himself, and it might be zero in your answer, but other than the president himself, who should we be watching for moving off wherever the mark is that they're at right now? >> well, it's hard to see how chuck schumer would ever see in his advantage to say, okay, you win, we're going to give you $5 billion. the democrats are loving this in their own way but i think your focus on trump is the most important one. and what maybe we're missing from all this, especially with that clock in the corner there and ginning up the drama of this is how much it's in trump's interest to let this go on and on. we are talking about immigrat n immigration, which is his favorite issue, the issue that gets him the most unity in his

base, gets "fok & frienx & frie on his side again. we're not talking about how the acting attorney general he installed after firing jeff sessions rejected advice from the department of justice. all the terrible stories of this chaotic week have been totally moved out of the headlines. and what we're talking about instead is trump being tough on border security. and he has every reason to keep this going. if it does go longer, who's one winner? who is. >> i guess the american people and government workers would certainly be a loser in that,

particularly over the holidays as they are going to be going without pay. but i think it comes down to we've been through these shutdowns so many times in washington and the resolution always come down to who is going to get blamed and when one water or the for the complete break down or the functioning of our federal government, they budge or give in to find some face of-saving way to resolve it. >> ho sew who is going to get blamd for it? >> it's really not clear be who is indeed being able to extort democrats and democrats refusing to give border security. >> we remember when the president said he'll own the

shutdown. >> if we don't get what we want one way or the other, whether it's through you, through the military, through anything you want to call. i will be proud to shut down the government for border security. i will take the mantle. i will be the one. i'm not going to blame you for it. >> and here we are. it might be seen as 11 years ago or 11 months ago because the president certainly has moved forward. if what charlie is saying, this president continues to win as he lets it go. republicans teld me two things. once, donald trump supporters won't blame him for this and he needs to focus on the base. going back to the base is where he goes particularly when he is feeling under fire from other matters, including the mueller

investigation and the sentencing of -- and the fallout from sense and they say to whatever extent the persons he supports -- i agree with charlie. he thinks he's going to win this and that's why we're here. >> charlie, when does this end? no pressure. >> it looks like congress is going to head home for christmas and then of course it could very easily last through the rest of this calendar year and then nancy pelosi takes over the speakership in the house and it's hard to see how that changes it in a way that gets resolv resolved.

>> and for those who do celebrate christmas, it's going to be a topic around the team. thank you. >> coming up, a second national security official resigning in protest just days after the president received that scathing resignation from jim mattis. athg resignation from jim mats.ti

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and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. so we are watching the breaking news on the very story of the shutdown.

just in to us, we were watching, if you were with us in the last segment, the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell as he was going through some housekeeping. evidently one of the reasons why he was going through some housekeeping was to end the session for the day and then go into a recess until the 27th. the next scheduled session will be on the 27th of december, i believe that's a thursday, and that as of today, they can go home. they can leave and be with family and friends as they so choose. as has been said for those on the hill, the members of congress, if some deal does come down of import, and i'm paraphrasing, of reality, the senate majority leaders will ask the members of the senate to come on back and vote on something he may term as tangible. another development within the last three or four or five minutes, vice president mike pence was there meeting on the

hill with the senate minority leader, chuck schumer. what he said to reporters there is that the discussions have gone well between the senate minority leader and the vice president and they continue to talk. so if you're a watcher of the progress of the shutdown, a potential resolution to this, it appears that they are still working at it, at least had they're talking to the press. we'll continue to watch that for you today. we also want to move on to this topic, nbc news today learning a second top national security official is resigning in protest following president trump's decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria. according to two state department officials, we are learning that mcgurk informed secretary of state mike pompeo of his decision friday evening. now brett mcgurk was already

planning to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month, just 11 days ago with a warning -- >> nobody working on these issues day to day is complacent. nobody is declaring a mission accomplishment. defeating a fiscal caliphate is a long-term campaign. >> that's another departure after the departure of james mattis. the president is standing by his decision tweeting this morning "when i became president, isis was going wild and now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to take care of whatever remains.

we're coming home. >> joining us michael mcfaul, ambassador to russia. ambassador, with brett mcgurk, and we're just learning today of his resignation that he evidently turned in friday night, what is the impact here? he was, in effect, the head prn -- person in battling isis. >> the effect is bad. the effect is bad for american national security and our allies around the world. i know brett, i work with him and know of his reputation. he's been working this issue for many years for obama and trump. by the way, the president is wrong. isis was not going wild until he came to power. there's something called operation inherent resolve that started in 2014, and it continued under the trump administration and has been successful. but you just heard and thank you for playing a clip from an

expert on the issue. this fight is not over and it is naive beyond measure to think that pulling out now will make us more secure in the long run. >> chris, what is your reaction to brett mcgurk now moving on and the importance that he clearly played in strategy against isis here? >> well, i think brett mcgurk feels that he just cannot go and face america's allies and say to them i wanted to you trust me, i told you this was the policy, this was my word and the word of the administration, that we were going to keep fighting isis, we were going to stay on the ground in syria and now it turns out all to be a lie or at least completely reversed by president trump more or less on a whim. and i think he said this in his e-mails to colleagues. i don't think in good conscience he could do that. and for his personal integrity, he had to resign, very much the

way general mattis resigned from the defense secretary's position. basically people with integrity are finding it impossible to serve this president. >> you boat are aware -- a reporting of evidently happened in terms of the beginning of the discussion of syria and then we have the resignation of two very important officials of this administration. and it started, according to "the washington post," that the president's plan to withdraw troops from syria began with a phone call between president trump and turkey as part of president erdogan and it ended with president trump according to the recording saying, you know what, it's yours, i'm leaving. ambassador, what were you able to parse from that reporting about the way president trump reacted here in this case to president erdogan? >> that there is no interagency process for making national

security in the trump administration. call me conventional, call me conservative -- >> unilateral is what you're saying? >> well, it's one guy on a phone call and tweeting the policy. that's not the way it works. i worked at the national security council for three years. the normal, conventional, conservative process is for the interagency to get together at the assistant security council level and with the president there and make decisions about national security. it's just unprecedented the president would get on the phone and then tweet a policy without that process in place. i want to underscore that we know this is the policy with respect to this outcome. how many more policies are being decided in this very structured

way. to me it means other actors have to take a much greater role in overseeing and playing a role in checks and balances with respect to chebs and balances today. -- checks and balances today. what is the reaction you've seen in what has been a very important transatlantic relationship here with america's european allies? there's a lot happening with with macron and others. >> whether it's italy, france,

spain, germany, all of them have domestic issues that are preoccupying their government. if you ant to look for international reaction, the iranians are ecstatic about trump's move. the russians love it, as i'm sure ambassador mcfaul would confirm. the turks, of course, have not exactly been friendly and they're not interested in fighting isis, whatever trump says. they're interested in fighting the kurds, who have been america's allies in that fight. if you really want to understand what's going on and i don't think trump is a very complicated guy, he doesn't like complicated issues that he can't explain to his followers at his rallies. he likes real simple answers, you stay, you go. good guys, bad guys. all that interagency stuff, all that decision making apparatus that ambassador mcfaul is talking about, that's just too complicated for him and he knows it's way too complicated for his

base. so he condescends to them assuming they're as ig mornoran he is. you're telling me mr. erdogan it's a complicated situation that we've been support it, well, screw it, i'm out of there. that's the way trump the presidency, trump the man, works. >> thank you both for your perspectives. good to have them. up next, we'll talk to california congressman ted lu, who is holding the president accountable for the partial shutdown of the government. tabl shutdown of the government - [narrator] the typical vacuum head has its limitations,

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the senate adjourned until next thursday and the house is no longer in session, which means no deal is imminent to end the government partial shutdown now in its 16th hour. at least 800,000 government employees face an interruption in their paychecks. about half of them will still be directed to work without getting paid because they're considered essential. joining me now from capitol hill, democratic congressman

from california, ted lu. good to have you. are you, therefore, going to fly home soon? what are you hearing about how the shutdown will affect constituents in your home state? >> reporter: let me remind you what donald trump said last week. he said i will take the mantle. i don't think it is right for the republican controlled senate and republican controlled house to adjourn until december 27th. i think they should make us be here so we can work out a deal to fund government again. >> so what are you hearing from your home state of california about how the shutdown may or may not be affecting your constituents at the moment? >> that's a great question. so some of the harms of the shut double play include we're not funding a lot of federal employees that keep our homeland safe. over 50,000 tsa employees will

be working without pay, over 50,000 customs and border agents will be working without pay, over 14,000 fbi agents will be working without pay. in addition, the violence against women act was also terminated as a result of the shutdown. a lot of people are being harmed, a lot of people are not being paid. that is not right, especially during the holidays. >> where do you think we're going to end up here, representative? we're coming down to numbers that are in comparison, as has been said, quite infinitesimal, talking $5 billion versus $1 billion. where do you think we're going to end up? >> that's a good point. in 2013, a 16-day government shutdown cost our economy $24 billion. that's nearly five times donald trump's $5 billion wall request. the reason we're having this argument is because donald trump's campaign promise was that he would have mexico pay for the wall. until mexico pays for it, we're

not going to build it because u.s. taxpayers should not be on the hook for a very wasteful and inefficient 19th century wall. we have better technologies, better ways of doing this. >> congressman ted lieu from california, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> former assistant to representative ted lieu. what's a new way to look at a solution here? and what might you be watching? what's the criterion that you're watching? >> i think nancy pelosi and chuck schumer both say that they do agree that we should have border security. i think that's where both sides agree. i think the idea and the notion thatty shou we should build a p border along a 2,000 mile border is where you have division, even within the republican party. i think if the president was

smart, then his message would be how about we improve the physical barriers where they currently exist, which democrats have stated they would support such an effort. you heard in 2017, standard & poors said $24 billion and more saved off the gdp. when you look at the state of the economy, i don't think this is a win for the president. and when you think about republicans, particularly in the senate, mitch mcconnell is thinking about the 22 republican senators up for reelection in 200. they're going to look at the president and say we can't stand with you again. i think the president needs to be more strategic and focused and ditch the notion of building a border wall along 2,000 miles.

>> build on that, chris, as former deputy labor secretary, we're seeing the worst december for markets, and december was definitely not good. and friday was also not good, 400-plus down. we are in bear territory for the nasdaq as well. is that the criterion that needs to be watched? because that increases pressure on this president who does like to claim, especially when you look at reelection, hey, i've taken care of the economy. >> you're exactly right. it's not just the 800,000 federal workers who are either furloughed or working without pay, it's probably an equal number of private contract employees, it's the janitors, it's the cafeteria workers at federal buildings who aren't going to be paid and importantly, they will never get back pay even when the federal government opens. >> they don't get back pay? >> the federal employees get back pay but if the cafeteria at the department of labor is closed, the business doesn't earn money. it's the gift shops that rely on

national parks. there's a powerful ripple effect through the national economy. it's the farm loans, the small business loans, the home loans that don't get done. it's the slowing of the labor markets and tariffs so we're in dangerous territory right now. the president would be smart to try to come up with a bipartisan solution to this right now. >> sure, michael. if those numbers are right that chris lieu is bringing up, these are low-income families during the holidays who will not get their pay that turn into stories you don't want to hear about. >> right. it's stories that i don't think any republican right now and particularly after the most recent midterms would like to go back home and explain to constituents with the president is doing this. the president is someone who likes to argue a lot about winning and being victorious and being a great deal maker. here he has an opportunity to

sort of put proof in the pudding, if you will, by working in a bipartisan way with democrats and republicans to figure this out. this is not going to be good for republicans again when you start to think about the number of seats that are up for reelection, it's very, very difficult to articulate to people who are working hard that we allow the government to stay closed for weeks, which will impact poor families, all because the president wanted a $5 billion budget for his border wall when you think about how much money we'll lose in the economy as we saw in 2013. >> as we look forward, this shutdown based on the very relatively of the numbers here and to you, chris lu, this that is going to be difficult. we're t-minus 12 days before the next congress comes to power and this gasp that the president may be making, he might be seeing that, too, saying i better go

for it now because i'm not going to get anything for this wall in the next congress. >> let's not forget there were several deals on the table not only to give him more with the border wall but to fix the situation with daca. he's turned down those compromises. there was the famous meeting in the cabinet room with house senate democrats to talk about immigration reform. every time he gets close to a bipartisan solution on immigration, he pulls back because he's afraid of losing his base. that's exactly what happened here. it's important to understand the senate passed a bipartisan bill to keep the federal government open. if paul ryan were to put that bill on the house floor right now tha now, that would pass with the bipartisan votes. >> is it voting base or is it the media base he have reacting to? that's what whole different discussion we can have. thank you both.

robert mueller's russia investigation possibly nearing an end. and there was, if you didn't know this, a dizzying week of developments in the many investigations around that entire topic of russia and president trump's world. ump's w. [woman 1] this...

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don't start humira if you have an infection. [woman 6] ask your rheumatologist about humira. [woman 7] go to mypsaproof.com to see proof in action. it was a busy week in investigations around russia and the trump administration, and there's new signs that special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation could soon be over.

nbc news learning that special counsel robert mueller is expected to submit his report to the attorney general as early as mid february. that follows a week of significant development in the legal matters involving the president. monday a u.s. district judge delayed sentencing for michael flynn and accused him of betraying his country. tuesday an agreement was reached to dissolve trump's charitable foundation under pressure from north caroli new york attorney general. wednesday a memo surfaced from attorney general nominee bar critical of the robe spotlight. thursday, acting attorney general whitaker refused to recuse himself and the house voted to release roger stone's testimony transcript as well.

katie, react to any of those and those are just a handful. >> so the talk, richard, that the mueller report is coming out mid february, i don't think that's going to be a sweetheart valentine's day memo to donald trump. that's if it comes out in february. there are all these people are believe are unindicted defendants, roger stone, donald trump jr. they haven't been indicted yet. does robert mueller still want to interview donald trump. as recent as last week the answer is yes. there is discussion you're going to see a report from robert mueller vis-a-vis russian interference in the election in 2016. otherwise we're all expecting to see more fireworks coming out of the mueller team inclusive of

upcoming indictments. >> ned, when you look at michael cohen -- michael flynn, some have called him the most important witness so far that have worked on the investigation, yet we have that other wrinkle delaying sentencing. he has more to give? >> it could be certainly he has more to give. obviously a couple of his associates were indicted this week on business transactions and an ongoing case in the southern district of new york. the interesting thing with michael cohen is we know he's admitted to lying to federal investigators but there's a much more important question here and that's the question of why he lied to federal investigators. i think there's a develop real possibility to believe it was done at the direction of donald trump. that was something that robert mueller and his team of investigators have been investigating since shortly after michael flynn pleaded and flipped about a year ago this

month. so this is something they want to get to the bottom of to figure out why exactly it was that donald trump, whether he asked michael flynn to lie and was that the case. was there a quid pro quo during the campaign that michael flynn them operationalized with the russian ambassador to hide their misdeeds and get on a better foot with russia. >> i want to go to matt whitaker, going to our latest headline, i've been suggested by the ethics committee of the d.o.j. that i should maybe recuse myself but i'm not going to. katie, is that okay? >> it's basic ethical considerations when you're an attorney. it's the must versus should analysis. must he recuse himself? the answer has been know from the d.o.j. ethics officials who have reviewed the situation. should he recuse himself? as attorneys, we have to avoid

the appearance of impropriety, appearance of a conflict of interest. whitaker spent a lot of time criticizing the mueller investigation and saying it wass to the courthouse or the keys to can you thi -- to the kingdom. the analysis that's comes out richard is very clear, a reasonable person knowing all of the relevant facts would conclude that there would be an issue concerning the impartiality of matthew whitaker. bottom line, that means he should get himself out of the investigation. he should not have anything to do with the mueller probe. >> in 30 seconds here, the charitable efforts by president trump as a citizen trump he's having to dissolve that. what do you make of that charity being dissolved? >> what i make of that charity being dissolved, i think it's

reflective of the operation surrounding donald trump and his family. it's filled with rampant corruption and illegality. that's what authorities in new york found. it is a sorry state that the president of the united states and his family are no longer able to oversee a charitable foundation and are barred in taking part from endeavors going forward. that is frankly where we have landed. >> katie phang and ed price, have a good saturday and thank you for being here. we'll be right back. ay and thank you for being here we'll be right back.

you may have missed it, the house and congress unanimously approved a measure giving the highest civilian award to a group of veterans from world war ii. more than 70 years after it ended, more than 20,000 chinese american veterans received the congressional gold medal, all but about 100, though, have already died. like retired army jack wong. >> when i saw the japanese bomb pearl harbor without any notice and everything else, i guess i got more or less, i don't know, after that i want to enroll in

the united states army to help try to fight the wrap njapanese. >> the chinese american world war ii veterans counted these men and women and found they have taken up arms for the country in just about every war since the civil war, like the irish faced, despite broader discriminatory laws and practices, these new immigrants enlisted. the 1882 chinese exclusion act, for instance, said chinese were not legal but they still enlisted. congratulations to the families and the group and the greater veteran community this holiday. you can find more online at nbc asian american. still ahead for you, the president calling lawmakers to a rare saturday meeting today that did not include any democrats. where both sides stand on a deal to end a partial government shut down. a partial government shut down wifi wireless charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8.

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a very good day to you. i'm richard lui at nbc headquarters in new york city. there will be no solution to the partial government shut down it appears. a short time ago, majority leader mitch mcconnell adjourned the senate until thursday. however, he said he would call the senate back if a deal is struck. democratic leader, chuck schumer said the president should not expect any bill to pass that includes $5 billion for a wall. earlier president trump tweeted that he's in the white house working hard, negotiating with democrats but he convened a small group of only republican lawmakers to discuss